Paralysed terror victims struggle with hospital bills and specialised treatment amid poverty

Many survivors of terrorist attacks, who were left paralysed, are now living in abject poverty after the injuries left them unable to fend for themselves.

Most of them have to rely on relatives and villagers for hand-outs.

Despite promises by leaders and the government that they will be taken care of, they have been left with life-threatening injuries and medical bills that they are unable to pay.

Mr John Muriuki from Nyaribo Village, Nyeri County, is one of them.

The 44-year-old was in Mandera working in a quarry when terrorists struck.

They sprayed the workers with bullets on July 7, 2015, leaving 14 dead and seven injured.

A terrorist fired a bullet that went through his left hand to his back. He then pretended to be dead.

HANDS PARALYSED

And though he survived, his life was never the same again. He was paralysed on both hands.

When the Nation visited him, his mother Felishna Waruguru was feeding him.

And she does more than that; she takes him to the toilet, bathes him and washes his clothes. He has turned from breadwinner to a dependant.

“My wife is a casual labourer, I have four children to bring up and pay school fees for,” Mr Muriuki said.

His mother also has to look after his epileptic sister, compounding the problem.

His wife, Joyce Muthoni lives with her employer and cannot leave to look after him because they need more money for food.

However, the government had cleared his bills at Kenyatta National Hospital, he said, where they were airlifted to after being referred from Mandera Referral Hospital.

“I was given Sh20,000 after I was discharged. The money was too little to cater for my transport expenses to clinics,” he said, adding that the money could not meet clinic expenses either.

Mr Muriuki claimed that President Kenyatta and Kieni MP Kanini Kega visited him while at KNH and promised to help him until he recovers but that is yet to materialise.

“My right hand is now rotting and the doctors needs over Sh400,000 in my next clinic check-up or else my hand will be amputated,” he said as he urged the government to respond swiftly.

GARISSA UNIVERSITY ATTACK

In Murang’a County, former Garissa University student Rachael Gikonyo is confined to a wheel chair following injuries sustained when terrorists attacked the institution on April 2, 2015.

She was shot seven times, five bullets hit her back and two hit her legs when Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed the university.

Every day, she is wheeled out of their house in Gathaithi Village of Kahuro Sub-County by her younger sister to bask in the sun.

This has been the routine since she left hospital one month ago.

Ms Gikonyo is still nursing a wound on her back that she says causes her excruciating pain.

Her doctors recommended specialised medical attention in India, a procedure that will cost the family at least Sh2 million, money they cannot afford at the moment.

“Some of the bullet fragments are still stuck in my back and they are the ones causing pain and pus to come out.

“I need them removed and after I heal, they will do a stem transplant that will maybe or maybe not cause my legs to work again,” she said.

Her father Julius Gikonyo vows that they will fund-raise until they get the money.